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Farewell To Sheffield’s Google Digital Garage

The sun is setting on the Sheffield Google Digital Garage. It’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to the Sheffield team this week, so join us in celebrating (and a little reminiscing) as we take a look back over their time in Sheffield; achievements, favourite moments and the legacy that they have created.

Google announced last year that in April 2017 Sheffield would become home to the very first high street store for the Google Digital Garage, promising free digital coaching and trailing excitement, intrigue and much digital discussion as the store waited patiently to be unveiled. Since opening, the team has welcomed many thousands of visitors through the doors and with an original stretch of 6 months planned for this store, the Sheffield Digital Garage gladly kept it’s doors wide open for an extra 5 months; educating, coaching, developing and assisting businesses looking to grow, entrepreneurs looking to get started and individuals looking to learn.

Sheffield helped us welcome a Birmingham and then Manchester store to the Google Digital Garage family, delivered countless outreach sessions and partnership events and were also the first city to take the innovative Digital Garage Bus on tour.

The Google Digital Garage exists to build digital skills, improve confidence in using digital tools and help individuals to create and grow their businesses. Being the source of so much knowledge for development and being able to successfully deliver all of this to others has been one of the most recognised positives for the coaches; here’s a few best bits directly from the coach’s mouth…

Favourite Sessions . . .

Shehla’s favourite session:

Attendees really appreciate the value of the Digital Garage sessions, shown through the dedication to attend during the recent bad weather!

“Social Media Strategy. 21 people made the effort to attend the session on a very snowy, icy Sunday morning. Everyone was engaged, had a good time and had their own suggestions. Most of them stayed for the next session as well: Writing for Social Media.”

Malisa’s favourite session:

The Digital Garage isn’t just for adults, Malisa helped prove that learning digital skills can be for everyone.

“Build a Simple Website. There were 2 children supervised by their father (a regular at the Garage [Mr Abdul Hoque]), and they were very confident and came out of the session with a functional website. It was encouraging to see aspiring young entrepreneurs of the future.”

Rachel’s favourite session:

Rachel loved being able to really get involved with her attendees and help them build on their existing skills to start their own businesses.

“My favourite session has to be Start Your Own Business where we are able to build a rapport with attendees, get to know them very well and I have been able to see the progress of the attendees over the weeks.”

Who We’ve Helped . . .

Tom:

Tom was able to give valuable advice to a charities who often don’t have the funds to outsource work or the skills to do it themselves in their own small team.

“Giving a charity the confidence to build their own website, and apply for grants which they were successful at was one of my favourite sessions.”

Anna:

Anna was able to give a little more confidence and digital coaching to an experienced business professor.

“I managed to convince a passerby to come into the Garage. It turned out he was a professor of Business and he attended 2 sessions. Even though he has spoken to crowds of over 800 people, he still learned a lot from his visit.”

Dani:

Dani was able to work together with her customer and together discover a way to equip him with the skills he needed.

“A guy came into the garage who was deaf and mute. We found a way to communicate with each other by delivering the session on Google Docs. He wanted to know how to renew his prescriptions. He was so appreciative of the session and kept thanking me with sign language during the session.”

May King:

Making an impact on businesses and building confidence in attendees, so much that they come back for more, has been one of the highlights for Team Leader, May King.

“When people have returned to the garage to tell us our sessions have had an impact on their business, increased their confidence or has improved their job prospects, this is one of the most rewarding things about the garage.”

Thank you and farewell, Sheffield Digital Garage!

About The Author

Lucy Dunn

Lucy works with the Chesamel team supporting with content creation. Having worked in the Digital Garage in Newcastle, Lucy now works as a digital content marketer with experience across the events, hospitality and luxury lifestyle sectors.